Journaling Prompts
• My relationship with taste is . . .
• The taste of ______ reminds me of . . .
★ Daily Practice, Day 5: Tasting the Fruit, No Longer Forbidden
The forbidden fruit is that which we desire but place outside of our realm of acceptance. For today, set your alarm for every hour, and when it chimes, listen to the hungers in your body. Listen to the desires for taste. If you are hungry for something sweet, have a bit of your favorite treat, be it chocolate, ice cream, or Red Hots. If you are hungry for fruit, eat a slice of apple, or a few seeds from a pomegranate. If you are hungry for fat, allow yourself a slice of bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a few onion rings, or a bit of cheese.
At the end of today, make yourself a meal with as wide a variety of flavors as possible. Taste each one completely and fully. Taste the saltiness of an umeboshi plum or salted fish, the sweetness of chocolate or pudding, the creaminess of a cream sauce, the bitterness of spring greens, the tartness of a lemon wedge.
Throughout the day, take notes on how the flavors affect you, and what emotions, memories, fears, or joys arise for you.
Sensing Home
Now that you have worked your way through the five recognized senses, you have a starting point for finding out which of your senses are most vibrant for you. Everyone has their favorite senses, the ones that make the most sense to them. What senses are the ones you rely on the most?
Journaling Prompts
• I am most disconnected from my sense of ______ because . . .
• I rely most on my sense of ______ because . . .
★ Daily Practice, Day 6: Integration and Recognition
When your chime rings today, take inventory. See what sense you rely on first. Write down which sense it is, and why it might be the one you are relying on in this moment.
At the end of the day, tally which sense you used most frequently. See which ones recurred, and take note if one or more of them never came up for you throughout today’s exercise. If this happened, it may be a sign that you have trained yourself out of listening to one or more of your senses.
Magickal Act: Sensation Station Toy Box
What You Will Need
• A box to hold items for sensation play.
• Sensation play items: pieces of luxurious cloth that feel good to the touch, fur or faux fur, sound makers (rattles, a small drum, a tambourine), a hair brush to play with on the skin, images you like to look at, a mirror, essential oils, tasty treats, a feather, candles, a mirror, a blindfold for playing with others, and anything else that makes you want to indulge in your sensual awareness.
How-To
Put all the sensation play items you have gathered in the box. Now, when you feel ready to explore your senses, you can draft a friend to play the Sensation Station game with you. This can be a sensual-yet-nonsexual experience, or it can be a sensual-leading-to-sexual game, depending on whom you play it with.
Playing with Others
Designate one player as the explorer and the other as the guide. The explorer gets blindfolded, and the guide takes the explorer on a guided experience of the explorer’s senses. The last sense that is explored is sight, when the blindfold is removed. The explorer opens his or her eyes to his or her face reflected in the mirror. Then, trade roles. Explorer becomes guide, and guide becomes explorer. This can be gentle, sweet, and loving, or it can be more edgy if you are in a situation where there is enough trust in the relationship. After your sensual play, you may want to write about the experience.
Playing by Yourself
No blindfold here, but you can still indulge in each sense by turn. Lay out all your sensual play items on a surface near you. You may want to play on your bed, or anywhere else comfortable. As you play with all the items from your box, allow yourself to stay present with each of your senses. Once again, after your sensual play, you may want to write about the experience.
Feels Like the First Time
Now you have an idea of which sense come naturally to you, and you have an idea, conversely, of which ones might need more attention in your daily life. You know you can use them all, and you know through your daily-exercise notes which ones are challenging for you.
★ Daily Practice, Day 7: Desire and Fulfillment
Today you will indulge in all of your senses. You will listen to your body, and respond to your sensory desires. You will allow yourself music, art, and sensation, taste treats and flowers. Indulge yourself. Get a massage. Eat your favorite foods. Wear clothes that feel good. Stop what you are doing and smell the breeze blowing by. Today you can abandon your timed alarms, and settle into feeling and receiving the stimuli brought to you by your senses.
Magickal Act: Sexploration
This exercise builds on the work done in the pussy-gazing exercise from chapter three. There is power in knowing what you look like, smell like, taste like. Now that you know where everything is and have a whole new relationship with your senses, it’s time to really get to know your body.
Have you ever really made love to yourself? Have you ever approached your own body with the same zeal with which you approach a lover’s? Allow yourself to be in awe of your magnificent self, and get down to it!
What You Will Need
• Uninterrupted time; the more, the better.
• A freestanding or wall-mounted mirror in a private space.
• A cozy, comfy space in front of the mirror in which to recline.
How-To
Take a bath and relax. Use only water. Do not use salts, soap, bubbles, or anything else. The purpose of this bath is to rinse off grime and stale scents as well as any artificial scents you wear. Do not replace those scents with other scents. The other purpose of this bath is to get your body into a state of relaxation.
Fun Fact: Acidic fruits like pineapple can make vaginal secretions taste sweet.
After your bath, position yourself in front of the mirror in a way that is comfy and relaxed, and where you can get a good look at your body, including your vulva. Now, using every one of your senses, explore your body. Feel your muscles; tense them, and release. Smell your own scents. (Do you know what your armpits smell like? If not, why not find out now?) Look in the mirror and see your breasts, your belly, the cleft between your legs.
Be brave and bold. Take your time and really get to know the terrain of your physical self. Have you ever tried to lick your own nipple? Can you reach it? Do you know? Try it now.
When you feel sufficiently warmed up and sexplorational, look at your vulva in the mirror. Touch yourself. Get comfortable and explore the folds of your labia, the hood of your clit, the glans of your clit, your perineum, your anus, and the area surrounding these parts. Work your way toward your vaginal opening, and enter your cleft with your fingers. Feel the different textures of your vaginal walls. Try to locate your G-spot. It will feel ridged and sort of spongy.
Take your finger and smell it. Really sense what your scent is like. (Note: If your fluids smell strongly fishy, or “off” in some way, you may have an infection of some sort. A visit to your OB/GYN might be in order.) Touch your finger to your tongue, and taste the fluids on your finger. Allow yourself to relax into it.
Don’t forget the rest of your body. Spend some “quality time” and really get into it.
When you are finished with this exercise, write about it.
Journaling Prompts: Pussy Prompts
• My body tastes . . .
• My pussy smells . . .
• My breasts are . . .
• When I think of sexing my own body, I . . .
Spell Working, Day 7: The Sensual Bath
Note: Take time to perform this exercise pre-ritual.
Making a sensual bath for yourself is an act of self-nurturance, and an opportunity to experience
your senses on the sensual level. Indulging yourself in relaxation, sensual awareness, and enjoyment is a practice that may enrich your life, and make it so pleasant to be present in your body.
What You Will Need
• Candles, scented or unscented. See “Color Correspondences: A Primer” in appendix i. (Sight)
• Bath salts. See appendix i. (Touch)
• Essential oils. See the “Essential Oil Correspondence Chart” in appendix i. (Scent)
• Fresh rose petals. (Sight and Scent)
• Lavender flowers. (Sight and Scent)
• A mug of your favorite relaxation tea. (Taste and Touch)
• A glass of water. (Taste and Touch)
• A plate of tasty treats. (Taste)
• Silence, relaxation tape or CD, or music. (Hearing)
• Matches or a lighter for the candles.
• One small table to set by the bath, with the surface ideally at the same level as the rim of your tub.
Optional Items
• Music.
• Clay, milk, or other bath additions. See appendix i.
How-To
Allow yourself enough time to prepare and enjoy your bath. An hour is probably adequate, though I know lovely Witches who spend a lot more time in their tubs than that!
As you set the space for your bath, also set your intent on your desired goals: relaxation, honoring, sensual awareness, and quiet joy. The oils that you choose for your bath will also have attributes, as do the flowers and petals. So do the other optional additives. As you add each element, bring your intent to the gifts that each offers you.
Set the table by the tub. The table is functional, but it is also your temporary altar. If you want to place other items that represent or relate to your sense of your senses, please do. You may also want to place an altar cloth on the table.
Set the candles on the table, or on the edges of the tub if it’s safe to do so. You may light them when you feel it is right. I often sense the lighting of the candles as a beginning point for a new phase of ritual. You may want to light them once you have set up your altar, or once you are ready to enter the bath.
Place the tea, water, treats, and essential oils on the table. If you will be playing a CD or tape, your player may go on the table as well.
Run bath water at a temperature that feels comfortable but on the warm side. The water will cool as the tub fills. Pour in the bath salts as the tub begins to fill. Remember to focus your intention. Next, add other ingredients, if you choose to (see appendix i for optional bath additions). Once the tub is full, turn off the water and add the oils, flowers, petals, and herbs.
If you are going to have sound, you may start your CD whenever you like, either after you set up your altar or before you get into your bath.
Disrobe, and step into your sensual bath. Relax. Enjoy. When you feel ready, indulge your senses in the treats you have gathered. Really take the time to taste, to hear, to be soothed and renewed. Sip at your tea. Listen to your thirst and your hunger, and respond by nurturing your body with nourishment.
Onward and Inward!
Good work! Now it’s time for your fifth initiation ritual, in part 2. Enjoy!
[contents]
1. “Tricks of the Eye, Wisdom of the Brain,” Serendip, http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/latinhib.html.
2. Doc Childre and Rollin McCraty, Ph.D., “Psychophysiological Correlates of Spiritual Experience,” Biofeedback 29 (2001): 13–17, http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-papers/spiritual-experience.html.
3. Rollin McCraty, Ph.D., “The Energetic Heart,” Clinical Applications of Bioelectromagnetic Medicine (2004): 541–562, http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-papers/energetic-heart.html.
4. Ibid.
5. “Gratitude and Health,” Mid-Columbia Medical Center, http://www.mcmc.net/pdf/tyh0212.cfm.
6. “Seeing More Than Your Eye Does,” Serendip, http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/blindspot1.html.
7. “Olfaction and Memory,” Macalester College Neuroscience Page, http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Smell/memory.html.
8. Richard V. Lee, M.D., “Pleasure, Pain and Prophylaxis: Olfaction (The Neglected Sense),” Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings 13 (2000): 261–266, http://www.baylorhealth.edu/proceedings/13_3/13_3_lee.html.
9. Kelly Burgess, “Bonding from the Beginning,” Babies Today, http://babiestoday.com/resources/articles/beginning.htm.
10. Dr. Leonardo Belluscio, “Visualizing Scent Networks in the Olfactory System,” Burroughs Welcome Fund, http://www.bwfund.org/news/awardee_profiles/archive/leonardo_belluscio.html.
11. Heili Varendi, “Human Newborn Behavior During Exposure to Maternal and Other Odors,” Karolinska University Press, http://diss.kib.ki.se/2001/91-628-4787-2/.
12. The Straight Dope, http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_306.html.
13. David Wolfgang-Kimball, “Pheromones in Humans: Myth or Reality?” Melissa Kaplan’s Herp Care Collection, http://www.anapsid.org/pheromones.html.
14. “Olfaction and Memory,” Macalester College Neuroscience Page, http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Smell/memory.html.
15. Ibid.
16. Wikipedia, http://www.fact-index.com/s/se/sense.html.
17. Roger Shuler, “Techniques of Touch: New Knowledge About Nurturing Newborns,” Univ. of Alabama Magazine 21:2 (Summer 2001), http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=41209.
18. Kim Ballard, “Healing Touch, Massage & Alternative Therapies,” Vital Aging Network, http://www.van.umn.edu/options/2g9_healingtouch.asp.
19. “Skin Hunger,” Extendicare, http://www.extendicare.com/consumer/article35.htm.
20. S. Boyd Eaton, M.D., and Stanley B. Eaton, III, “Evolution, Diet and Health,” International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/icaes/conferences/wburg/posters/sboydeaton/eaton.htm; Michael Crawford and David Marsh, “Nutrition and Evolution,” NOHA News 22, no. 3 (Summer 1997): 1–2, http://www.nutrition4health.org/NOHAnews/NNS97NutritionAndEvolution.htm.
21. Stefan Angheli, “Fat and Fats,” Health Fitness Newsletter, http://healthfitness.com.au/diet/nutrition/fat-fats.htm.
22. Ann Gibbons, “Humans’ Head Start: New Views of Brain Evolution,” Science 296, no. 3 ((May 2002), http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:d9zOw2UJdjIJ:www.anakata.hack.se/papers/pdf/Science-296-835.pdf+lipids,+brain,+evolution&hl=en&ie=UTF-8.
23. Densie Webb, Ph.D., R.D., “The Heart-Healthy Fats,” Prevention, http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-3-61-93-2628-1,00.html.
24. Udo Erasmus, Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill (Burnaby, BC, Canada: Alive Books, 1993).
chapter six
Myth Making and Mentors:
Witch Power Rising!
★ Daily Practice: Speaking Words of Truth, Speaking Words of Love, page 114.
Creation and Re-Creation
In the beginning, there was the word. Or was it silence? A swirling mass of matter? A void? Chaos? The sun and the earth? God? Goddess? Goddess and God? Mother and Father? Raven? Whale? Spider Woman, weaving her web? The Big Bang?
Creation myths are important. They give us a sense of our beginnings, a sense of time and motion. They give us a starting point for our mythologies and a set of rules that govern our interface with reality.
Creation myths also place us within a rule structure. Myths that have some sense of wrongdoing or failure as a basis (or even as a component) set us up for a lifetime of trying to set things right. Conversely, myths that are based in empowerment give us a matrix for right action and self-definition.
If you are science-oriented, you may find it odd that I am putting the Big Bang in the same category as Genesis. My reasoning is that all creation stories are ideas that bind us to a certain interpretation of How Things Work. In addition, we don’t know the whole story of our origins, nor of our eventual endi
ngs. We don’t have the ability yet to measure the senses accurately, or to read, or comprehend, those stories encoded in our DNA.
For instance, once upon a time the world was flat. Every person knew this to be fact. To claim otherwise was lunacy—heresy! Above the earth was heaven, and beneath it was hell. And there were edges, off of which you would undoubtedly fall if you ventured too far.
What are the stories that shape our universe today? How accurate are these stories? As an experiment, I encourage you to allow your attachment to your belief structure to relax for this next set of exercises and spell working. Who knows what new information you may find?
Creation of Cosmos, Genesis of Life
What creation stories were you brought up with? The origin story of the scientific sort? The Big Bang, and the beginning of life on earth, born of fire and water meeting in furtive passion, the single cell dividing and slowly becoming all the variations on the theme of living beast? While this creation story is based in science, it is a story of our beginnings, and lends a flavor to how we view the world.
Genesis, of Biblical fame, is a creation myth that many of us are familiar with. It sets the stage for the inferiority of women, and makes a gold standard of the concept of sin. As women, with this creation myth as a building block of our worldview, we bare the burden of the Biblical concept of the fall from grace.
Sympathetic Magick: Using one thing to stand in for another, often larger or more complicated thing. Working magick on the one thing affects the other, which in many cases is the final goal of the working.
Many Native American tribes considered the world to be floating on the back of Turtle, and created by all the animals. However, the Hopi creation myth begins with Tokpefla, a term meaning “endless space.”1
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